1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to notebook control techniques for use in data processing systems, and in particular to notebook control techniques which include tab portions which allow operator navigation of an organizational scheme.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent advances in data processing system technologies, personal computers are capable of processing extraordinary amounts of data. Consequently, control techniques have been developed which allow an operator to maintain a confident grasp of the scope of the information available to him or her. One increasingly popular technique is to provide a plurality of viewing windows on a video display while allowing the operator to use graphical pointing devices, such as a computer mouse, to navigate through the windows to select certain windows for review or input of data. Of course, within each window, the operator may scroll upward or downward through panels or "pages" of data. One control device which is particularly useful when multiple panels or pages of data are displayed for review or for operator input is that of the "notebook" control technique which provides a plurality of tabs which allow the operator to leap through a large compilation of data by using an organizational scheme which is represented on the notebook tabs.
One significant problem with present notebook control techniques is that a notebook with many tabs requires operator scrolling through the tabbed area, which produces conceptual and usability problems, since the operator can become confused and disoriented through scrolling operations. Moreover, in conventional notebook control techniques, many tabs may be concealed from view, thus resulting in conceptual masking of system features which may otherwise have proved useful to an operator.